Completing the 50th Anniversary Quarry Novel

October 14th, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

The past week was a tough writing one. Two days of writing that wrapped up a complex plot better than I could ever have hoped. This left me in an almost celebratory state, because I finished Quarry’s Reunion, the 50th anniversary Quarry novel (the first book in the series, Quarry – originally titled The Broker – was published in 1976).

Quarry's Reunion cover painting by Paul Mann
Art (copyright 2025) by Paul Mann for the cover of QUARRY’S REUNION, to be published in late 2026.

I had wrestled with the plot, which is an unusual one for Quarry as it’s a more traditional murder mystery than a crime novel, and has lots of moving parts, more Christie than Spillane. Right now I don’t know how my editor and agent will react to a change of pace like this; but I can really only write the novel that wants to be written. This one, appropriately given the 50th anniversary aspect, delves into Quarry’s past in a way I never have before.

The story that presented itself to me was almost something out of Grace Metalious. If that reference doesn’t mean anything to you, or even if it does, I’ll just say she was the underrated author of Peyton Place, one of the best-selling (and most scandalous) novels of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. I had to develop a whole cast, even generations thereof, the residents of a town in Ohio about the same size of my own smallish Muscatine, Iowa. I literally (not figuratively) wrote half a dozen breakdowns of the characters and their relationships, both familial and romantic, detailing a trust fund that would be the engine of the mystery, i.e., who would/could benefit financially from the death of a character or two.

These cast breakdowns and plot notions were very complicated, and my writer wife Barb suffered through each of them, telling me what worked and didn’t.

Further complicating matters, I began the book – did several chapters – before going into the hospital for an ablation procedure to deal with my a-fib. This turned into a nightmarish month of emergency room visits, ambulance rides, and three hospital stays, the middle one of which found me hallucinating about where I was and whether or not I was investigating a murder.

I wrote about this here before.

I bring it up, because it’s not normal for me to return to a book I began and plotted before having surgery and hallucinations. Kind of hard to just get back in.

But pretty much that’s what I did, although the intricacies of this plot with its Peyton Place-type sexual and criminal shenanigans found me having to re-plot every chapter or two. I often say that fiction writing consists of solving problems of your own creation.

So after I finished the book, having read it and made my revisions (minor as usual), I was pleased that it seemed, as Larry David would say, pretty, pretty good.

I work in WordPerfect and have to convert a manuscript to Word for submission to my editor. This inevitably has some hick-ups, some glitchy travails for Barb – who enters my corrections and the more minor revisions – and me. That makes this inevitable day of getting the book in shape to send always a stressful one.

But we got it out that door, sent to both my editor and my agent.

Whew!

Great to have that over!

I slept soundly and well that night, content that all was right in the world, except for our political situation of course, and then, at 4:44 a.m., I sat up in bed, horribly wide awake.

Somewhere in my brain, while I slumbered, the realization formed that I’d made a mistake in the novel, a really, really big one, with ramifications that would echo through the entire novel.

I got up and tried to solve the problem, resolve the issues it created. I sat in my recliner downstairs with a notebook in my lap and wrote down ideas, timeline shifts, anything I could come up with that wouldn’t damage a book I really liked as it was…but definitely required fixing. How to do that without a page one rewrite?

Barb noticed some lights were on downstairs and came down from the master bedroom to see what was up – had they been left on? Certainly her husband couldn’t be up at 5:45 a.m.!

But he was.

And never gladder to see my lovely bride.

I told her of my massive screw-up, and Barb – who reads my books in progress, chapter by chapter – admitted she hadn’t noticed the goof either. (By the way, I have no intention of sharing with you what that goof was. This piece is as close to an admission as you’ll get.)

We batted ideas around. We each came up with solutions, but none of them were easy or even practical fixes. As you might imagine, this went on for a while. I can only say I was grateful – felt blessed – to have a writer for a wife who could help me in a situation like this.

Finally we came up with something, something that would be manuscript-wide but mostly cosmetic, not disrupting the narrative and its flow.

I did not go back to bed. (I had already, by the way, sent my editor and agent e-mails telling them to dump the previous version of the book I’d sent them. A new version would be along soon.) I went back to the keyboard.

I’m not sure, but I think I worked up till about 4 p.m., with a short lunch break, and sent to my editor and agent the revised version. Then I took a long, long nap.

The next day I was worthless, as you might imagine, tired as hell and unsteady; but relieved. So very relieved.

Thank you, Barbie.

* * *

This good interview with me by the great Andrew Sumner of Titan, at the San Diego Comic Con, is right here:

M.A.C.

Happy Publication Day! And Conjuring Up an Injustice

October 7th, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

October 7 – the day this update appears – is the publication day of the new Trash ‘n’ Treasure mystery by Barb and me – Antiques Round-up!

Barb did a fantastic job on this one and I added my own touches, too. When she told me about some of the wacky things she was planning to do in this one, I had my doubts she – or anyone – could pull them off…but she did! “Yippee-ki-yay, Mother (and Brandy)!”


Hardcover:
E-Book: Nook Kobo Google Play

Barb is hard at work on her draft of the next book in the series, Antiques Web. She should be done by year’s end and I’ll saddle up for my draft come first of the year.

In the meantime, the movie that brings Brandy and her mother Vivian alive, Death by Fruitcake, should be available soon…we’ll let you know how, and where, to see it!

* * *

I have enjoyed the Conjuring movies, including the latest one (The Conjuring: Last Rites). I did wonder why in this latest installment nobody seemed to know how to switch on the lights when going into a room, but, hey – it’s a haunted house movie, so you need it dark.

The scariest thing about Last Rites is how cavalier Hollywood can be about giving credit where credit is due.

Before I get into this, let me say I am well aware that writers sometimes have to sign a work-for-hire agreement to get a gig. I signed plenty of those back when I was writing novelizations of movies and original novels based on TV shows. I get that.

But now and then something a writer has done as work-for-hire goes places nobody anticipated. For example, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel were screwed out of Superman because they had signed work-for-hire agreements when they were teenagers. It took decades – effing decades – for DC Comics to give anything to their estates and to include a “created by” screen credit for Siegel and Shuster on any new Superman movie.

Which brings me to Ed Gorman.


Ed Gorman (1941-2016) and his wife Carol

Ed was one of my two or three best friends in the writing business. He was probably the best short story writer in the genre. He was one of the best incredibly prolific writers of novels. I never read anything by him that wasn’t smart and engaging; he could be a little dark at times, but that was leavened with wry humor.

We used to talk on the phone, in those pre-social media days, for hour upon hour. He was incredibly affable and funny in those conversations, not only with me but in phone conversations with many others in the field. Nonetheless, he was notoriously a near recluse. I am one of the few people in mystery fiction who Ed spent time with in person. We even did some signings together, and he came to one of my band’s performances, at which he seemed loose and easy and to be having a great time. Later he told me he’d been terrified.

He was a unique person and a fine writer. I once told Barb that if I died before completing a novel to give it to Ed to finish. That’s how high my opinion was and is of him.

One of the ways Ed made a living was writing books for Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famous psychic/demon-hunter couple whose “real” adventures are the “factual” basis of the Conjuring movies.

Has anyone who saw one of those movies – and, again, I am a fan – believed them to really be “based on the true story”? That the outlandish things that happen on screen really did in real life? I don’t hold that against the Warrens or those who’ve turned their tall tales into films. I like a good scary story.

Here’s another.

One of the books Ed ghosted for the Warrens was called The Haunted. It became a TV movie and he may have received some payment for that, though I’m not sure. Ed did not receive a byline on the book, but the first page says this:

Special thanks and acknowledgment
to Ed Gorman for his work on this book
.

Ed developed The Haunted from 40 pages of notes provided by a reporter working with the Warrens, and spoke with both the Warrens and the Spurl family (who lived in the “haunted” house). I remember Ed telling me he didn’t have much to work from, and didn’t believe any of it anyway. So he just wrote a horror novel, he said, which would be sold as “non-fiction” (his quotes). He was clear about creating much of it out of whole cloth.

Ed was good at horror novels. Very good. He did most of them under the name “Daniel Ransom.” So the Warrens chose wisely.

The Conjuring franchise has made two billion dollars. The Conjuring: Last Rites had grossed over $187 million worldwide by September 7, 2025. The film’s debut included $83 million domestically and a record-breaking $104 million internationally.

The movie is based on The Haunted, which Ed Gorman wrote.

His estate has been paid not one cent.

He receives no screen credit, not even the acknowledgment that the original book carried on its first page.

It’s possible, maybe probable, that Ed signed a work-for-hire contract. It’s also likely he was paid only a few thousand dollars for the work. So maybe Warner Bros/New Line doesn’t owe him anything, legally. But I am of the opinion that, even so, his estate deserves a taste, and Ed deserves screen credit.

But that seems unlikely to happen.

As Count Floyd would say, “Scary, kids, scary!”

M.A.C.

Hey Kids! It’s Book Giveaway Time

September 30th, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

We’ve not had a book giveaway here at the Update for some time, and I’m about to remedy that.

Last year Hard Case Crime reissued The Last Quarry in trade paperback form (with some bonus material in back, two of the three Quarry short stories from the ‘80s). Now HCC is taking the same trade paperback approach with The First Quarry (minus the bonus short stories).

What makes these reissues notable?

Well, the first three Quarry novels Hard Case Crime published (The Last Quarry, The First Quarry and Quarry in the Middle) appeared in the smaller original mass-market paperback size. This is for all of you who like to shelve your titles together – whether you are OCD or just particular – and would prefer your row of Quarry novels be all of the same format/size. Now you we no longer have to suffer with the indignity of the first three novels not lining up perfectly with the rest! Even the first four novels, as originally published by Berkley Books, were originally in mass market size. The fifth, Primary Target, re-titled Quarry’s Vote at HCC, was in hardcover and then a mass-market-sized paperback. All five are now HCC trade paperbacks.

I believe, though I am not absolutely certain, that Quarry in the Middle will also receive a trade paperback edition from Hard Case Crime, next year.

So, even if you have the original edition of The First Quarry, you are welcome to participate in this book giveaway. It works like this: e-mail me requesting the book at macphilms@hotmail.com. Even if you’ve won a title in a previous giveaway of mine, you must include your snail-mail address. Though no strings are attached, it would be nice if you’d review the book at the Amazon and/or Barnes & Noble sites, or your own blog, if you have one. The offer is open to US residents only, due to shipping costs.

[All copies have been claimed! Thank you for your support. –Nate]



I’ve talked about this before, but just in case you didn’t hear it from me, on an Update or otherwise, here’s why The Last Quarry was not the last Quarry, and why The First Quarry is not the first Quarry.

When Hard Case Crime got started, editor Charles Ardai approached me about reprinting Blood Money, the second book in my Nolan series (the first being Bait Money). I requested he collect both books in one volume, asking for no extra money, as I thought it awkward to start with the sequel to a long-out-of-print book, which Bait Money was at the time. He agreed and you can now get those books together as Two for the Money.

The Nolans did well enough for Charles to request I do another in the series. I said I’d prefer to do a Quarry novel. The series had something of a cult following (of course, as Donald E. Westlake said, a cult author is seven readers short of making a living) and I’d always felt the character should have put me on the map, which it hadn’t. The series was in fact dropped by Berkley Books after those first four entries.

But I’d recently made (with director Jeffrey Goodman) a short film about Quarry, based on my short story “A Matter of Principal.” The film did well at festivals and was warmly received when screened at a Bouchercon.

For this reason, and my own affection for the character, I wrote The Last Quarry for HCC, telling Charles I was thrilled to be able to wrap the series up (as the title suggests). I’d also been promised a Robert McGinnis cover, which I got. (And I should note that The Last Quarry was based on my screenplay of the eventual film called The Last Lullaby. The final film differs somewhat from my novelization.)

Then the damnedest thing happened: The Last Quarry was a success, garnering good sales and terrific reviews.

CUT TO: Charles and I are standing in a buffet line at a subsequent Bouchercon when he says, “It’s too bad you ended the series with The Last Quarry.” And I say, “Why don’t I write The First Quarry?”

Thus began a long series of Quarry novels (I’m working on Quarry’s Reunion, the thirteenth for Hard Case Crime), novels that have earned several Shamus nominations from the Private Eye Writers of America and two Edgar noms from the MWA. And there was a one-season of a QUARRY TV series from HBO/Cinemax, focusing on Quarry’s origin.

Not bad for a busted mid-‘70s paperback series.

Most of the new novels have me exploring the premise of Quarry using the late Broker’s list to track assassins to their next target, and offering a service to that target: stopping the hit by killing the assassins and discovering who bought the kill contract. This is what was set up in Quarry’s List, the second of the original four novels.

Some of these subsequent novels, like The First Quarry, tell of contracts Quarry carried out prior to – it gets confusing now – the events of the first Quarry novel (originally published as The Broker, currently carrying my preferred title, Quarry). Among these contract-killer novels are Quarry’s Choice and Quarry in the Black.

Another sub-set in the series are the “old man” Quarry novels, where the character is roughly my age Quarry’s Blood, Quarry’s Return).

I run into potential readers wanting to know what order to read the books in. I always say, I didn’t write them in order, so why read them that way? I would prefer to point such readers to two particular favorites of mine, Quarry’s Choice and The Wrong Quarry.

Is there a difference between the first four (Quarry, Quarry’s List, Quarry’s Deal and Quarry’s Cut) and subsequent entries, including the one I’m working on now?

Yes. There is more humor – dark humor, but more – in the later books.

One reason I didn’t try to take the series elsewhere, when Berkley dropped it, was my feeling that each novel had to top the last in extreme violence. Why did I feel that way? It’s not because I’m a sadistic nincompoop. It’s because, structurally, the early books are about showing Quarry in the first chapter or so doing something terrible, then in subsequent chapters (the bulk of the book) getting the reader to kind of forget that and come to like Quarry and view him as a reasonable guy (and a point-of-view character you could take the ride with). Then, at the end, faced with a situation that an actual normal human would otherwise deal with, Quarry again does something terrible.

All of this grew out of my desire to, in my way, top the great Richard Stark (Don Westlake) Parker novels. I had already written the first five Nolan novels, which were frankly imitative of the Parker series. I instead wanted to show readers (like me) of “crook books” with protagonists who worked the left-hand side of the street just what kind of “heroes” we (me) were identifying with.

The Parker novels were heist yarns told in third-person, giving readers some distance between them and the criminal events. I decided to do, instead of a professional thief, a hired killer, and tell the stories in the first person – put the reader inside Quarry’s head, and ultimately confront readers with just who it’d been they were rooting for.

To some degree, this approach is inherent in the later Quarry novels, yes, but the dark humor (I think) leavens the often nasty events of the narratives. That frees me from sense that I need to top the last book with some truly awful thing that Quarry does at the finish (although even then, in the Mike Hammer tradition, he is removing a bad guy or two or three).

The original novel – The Broker AKA Quarry – has this ambivalence built in. In that novel – never intended to launch a series – hired killer Quarry, to save his own ass, must solve the murder he committed.

Now Quarry’s 50th anniversary is just ahead (2026). I’ll try not to disappoint with Quarry’s Return.

* * *

Here is a list from Collider of the 20 best comic book movies. Guess what’s number two?

M.A.C.

Why I Am Troubled

September 23rd, 2025 by Max Allan Collins

As I’ve stated, I try to stay out of politics here.

And I don’t think what I’m about to discuss violates that, at least not exactly. I’ve seen people from the left and the right speaking out about the Jimmy Kimmel situation.

Jimmy Kimmel

Look, anybody can get fired. When you work for somebody, and they don’t like the work you’re doing, they have no obligation to put up with you. I’ve been fired. I was fired when I wrote the Dick Tracy strip largely because the editor (not the editor who hired me but his replacement) did not like my work and did not like me, and also because the Tribune Syndicate wanted to save money by using a staffer and not a freelancer.

That was unfair, obviously, but I always knew that could happen. I had a five-year contract that was renewed for another five years twice. It was a good run and a good paycheck.

So in that sense, what happened to Jimmy Kimmel is not a freedom of speech issue. ABC hired him, ABC can fire him (or suspend him or whatever). What is dangerous – what is wrong – is the way the FCC muscled ABC into getting rid of Kimmel. The FCC – backed by taxpayer money, which is to say you and me – was pursuing a political agenda. With ABC and Disney trying to get the FCC to approve a merger (that breaks the FCC’s rules), the actions of the FCC are strictly straight out of the Mafia playbook – it’s the protection racket, in a sense, and it’s authoritarianism adjacent (at least). “You can do it the easy way or the hard way,” a thug says.

Anyone working in the world of media can now be punished for having the wrong opinion. This potentially can extend beyond talk show hosts to the newsrooms and then to movies and books and even comic books.

I am not someone who watched Jimmy Kimmel. When Letterman retired, I decided I had better things to do than watch the ephemera that was late night talk shows. I might prefer to read or watch something else (an old movie maybe or even a new one) or work or even go to bed. I appear to have gotten older and now run out of steam sooner.

But this is troubling. It goes beyond Democrat and Republican into American. And other than to speak up – while I can – I don’t know what the hell to do about it beyond cancel Disney Plus, which I have.

The only other thing available to me is speaking out here. If I’ve offended anybody, I welcome them to object in the comments. But first I’ll remind them that the First Amendment allows us all to have our opinions, smart or stupid, in agreement or disagreement.

For now.

M.A.C.

NOTE: The above was written before the Kimmel situation changed (somewhat).

Let’s ask George Carlin what his opinion is: